“The biggest cover-up of my adult life”: Inside the CIA’s attempt to make Havana Syndrome disappear @michaeldweiss.bsky.social talks to a CIA whistleblower who says the spy agency set out to prove Anomalous Health Incidents weren’t real or caused by a foreign adversary. Neither is true, he says.

“The biggest cover-up of my adult life”: Inside the CIA’s attempt to make Havana Syndrome disappear

In 2024, The Insider and its investigative partners at 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel uncovered evidence showing that “Anomalous Health Incidents,” also known as Havana Syndrome, were likely the result of...

theins.press

U.S. war with Iran looms. I spoke to @alexplitsas.bsky.social about the military options the U.S. has in place for an attack on Iran, and what Iran is likely to do in retaliation, from missiles to militias: t.co/lEPZL1ZuJ9

New: I wrote a long critical essay about Marco Rubio -- the moral compromises he's made and the intellectual hypocrisies he hourly indulges to serve Donald Trump. macspaunday.substack.com/p/marco-solo...

Marco Solo

Trump’s Secretary of State adopts positions he never believed, to advance the ones he does. Is it worth it?

macspaunday.substack.com

New: We translated 1988 KGB training manual on how to psychologically profile agents for recruitment cultivation using their biographies, physical appearances and handwriting. Pliable middle children, cheerful fatties, and why the KGB loves a midlife crisis: t.co/cwKTQotsGI

Went on @thebulwark.com's Shield of the Republic podcast to discuss Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, and AHI. Much of the discussion focused on why Europe and Ukraine have a difficult time accepting that the US won't always be on side. open.substack.com/pub/macspaun...

Michael Weiss joins The Trump Report with Fergus Macphee to discuss anomalous health incidents (AHIs), better known as Havana Syndrome.: open.substack.com/pub/macspaun...

Havana Syndrome: US Govt Bought Mystery Weapon Linked to Symptoms

Michael Weiss on Havana Syndrome and recent CNN report.

open.substack.com

New: We published another translated KGB training manual, this one about Moscow's use of 'compatriots' abroad. A highly relevant topic. Expertly introduced by my friend Dr. Kevin Riehle. You can subscribe to Foreign Office here: macspaunday.substack.com/p/moscows-co...

Inside Moscow's Compatriots Policy

How the KGB instrumentalized the Soviet diaspora for intelligence work

macspaunday.substack.com

Cuban intelligence has a reputation for being one of the most formidable in the Western Hem. Yet they were seemingly caught off guard by an elaborate and long-planned Maduro op, in spite of controlling Venezuela’s security. I have questions: open.substack.com/pub/macspaun...

The Dog That Didn't Bark in the Maduro Op

Cuban intelligence runs Venezuela's security apparatus. Where was it when the U.S. snatched the Venezuelan strongman?

open.substack.com

What to make of the Mar-a-Lago meeting: open.substack.com/pub/macspaun...

@michaeldweiss.bsky.social Excellent interview with Michael Weiss regarding #Ukraine & Trump‘s dodgy negotiations with the Kremlin… youtu.be/QX1T0nmb6bU?...

Russia: Trump has ‘promised us Ukrainian territory’ | Ukraine: The Latest

YouTube video by The Telegraph

youtu.be

I chatted with the great Maddie Hale at Times Radio on the latest in U.S.-Ukraine talks, Europe's responsibility, and how Zelensky is performing a bit of tactical jujitsu on Trump's (and Putin's) demands of him. www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...

The State Department is evidently going all in defending a meeting with a known Russian asset from a far-right party in Germany. Helluva look, even for this administration. x.com/michaeldweis...

Michael Weiss on X: "Surely one can be anti-censorship without being under the "absolute control" of the Russian Presidential Administration, as Markus Fronhmaier is described as being in two separate documents obtained by @derspiegel. You just returned from Europe where you spent much of your time https://t.co/sa6Vva56u6" / X

Surely one can be anti-censorship without being under the "absolute control" of the Russian Presidential Administration, as Markus Fronhmaier is described as being in two separate documents obtained by @derspiegel. You just returned from Europe where you spent much of your time https://t.co/sa6Vva56u6

x.com

Sarah Rogers, the State Department official who hectored Europeans about free speech, is seen here with a far-right German AfD deputy, Markus Frohnmaier, whom two Kremlin documents obtained by @spiegel.de described as "a parliamentarian under our absolute control." spiegel.de/politik/ausl...

New: Read the translated KGB training manual on how the Soviets categorized white Westerners they looked to recruit, according to four basic personality types. Some unintentionally hilarious stuff in here, all analyzed by Mike Miller, a recent retiree from the CIA and a cognitive psychologist.

Happy to have contributed to this week's @spiegel.de cover story. www.spiegel.de/ausland/wie-...

Twitter in the past 48 hours has been like watching a remedial version of SPECTRE convene a meeting in real time.

New at @spiegel.de: We obtained the transcript of a conference call of top European leaders and Zelensky, warning of American dirty tricks to the end war. "We mustn't leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys." spiegel.de/politik/ukra... Eng. derspiegel.substack.com/p/we-must-no...

(S+) Wie sehr der Kanzler und Macron den USA bei den Ukraine-Verhandlungen misstrauen

Hören Trumps Unterhändler vor allem auf Russland? Dem SPIEGEL liegt die Mitschrift einer Krisenschalte vor, die zeigt, wie tief das Misstrauen bei den Europäern sitzt – auch bei Kanzler Merz und Präsi...

spiegel.de

Big story dropping tomorrow.

"The European Union will add three GRU officers from Russia’s military unit 29155 to its sanctions lists...The officers, all of whom specialize in cyber operations...were featured in The Insider’s investigation Hidden Bear: The GRU hackers of Russia’s most notorious kill squad." t.co/8vdZPrjzem

I talked to former Lithuanian Foreign Minister @glandsbergis.bsky.social about the future of Europe without the United States, and what Europe should do to prepare for that contingency: t.co/srZWfxn7MJ

On Tom Stoppard: open.substack.com/pub/macspaun...

On Tom Stoppard

The great playwright was great in another respect most artists aren't.

open.substack.com

Stoppard’s plays stuck with you long after you left the theatre, to the extent that you ended up stacking your shelves with all the source material. He made A.E. Housman interesting. www.the-american-interest.com/2020/06/14/t...

The Poet of Social Distancing - The American Interest

Why the work of A.E. Housman resonates in a time of enforced isolation.

the-american-interest.com

Dear Europe: If you read this and still think the United States is with you, you deserve everything you fear is coming your way. This is Russian-style corruption incorporated into the American system. www.wsj.com/world/russia...

Next week we will publish a newly translated KGB training manual on how the Soviets worked up psych profiles for recruiting prospective agents. Another piece of relevant Cold War history… open.substack.com/pub/macspaun...

Russia writing US policy. For discussion of the implications of this please listen to my conversation with Michael Weiss on Thinking Live: snyder.substack.com/p/oligarchs-...

Michael Weiss@michaeldweiss.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New: @theins.press saw the Witkoff-Dmitriev plan six months ago in draft form—except it was all Dmitriev. Bloomberg reports now Dmitriev told Ushakov he’d pass along a Russian plan and the Americans “can present it as their own”: theins.press/en/politics/...

🍊👑♥️🇷🇺 Via @michaeldweiss.bsky.social Polish cartoon “The peace talks were attended by Ushakov and Witkoff.” “And from the American side?”

Do yourself a favor and listen to Weiss and Snyder:

Michael Weiss@michaeldweiss.bsky.social · 8mo ago

My chat with the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social on Ukraine and the United States. Was meant to be 30 minutes and ended up going for an hour. open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/o…

New: @theins.press saw the Witkoff-Dmitriev plan six months ago in draft form—except it was all Dmitriev. Bloomberg reports now Dmitriev told Ushakov he’d pass along a Russian plan and the Americans “can present it as their own”: theins.press/en/politics/...

Made in Moscow: The “U.S. peace plan” for Ukraine was substantially formulated months ago by Kremlin operative Kirill Dmitriev

Since it was first published on Nov. 20, the much-discussed 28-point plan for ending the war in Ukraine has borne all the signs of a Kremlin information operation. In fact, many of its most controvers...

theins.press